Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion Wiki Guide

Classic - Merceneries

To begin the Mercenaries encounter, a team must seek out the ICC Peacekeeper Commander. He is, fairly obviously, stationed at the ICC Headquarters in Andromeda. Simply head on over to ICC using Rubi-Ka's trusty whompa system, and have a short conversation with him. He will be standing at the central platfrom, in front of the statue.

During the conversation with the Commander he will ask you two questions, each with a range of options. In order to continue the quest, the Commander needs to know who you're looking for. Indeed, he will immediately ask who you are looking for. Answer this question by asking "Have you seen a man called Joe around here?" He'll then play a little game with you, presenting you with names of various Joes to prove you have no idea what you're talking about. To shut him up, answer "Joe Two-Fingers." At this point, the Commander will get all panicky and disappear, but not before leaving you a clue as to where Joe Two-Fingers is hiding out.

If you pay attention to the Commander's final statement before he abruptly ends the conversation, he will mention a general direction and location where ol' Joe is at. At this point, you must head in the general direction given to you by the Commander, and keep an eye out for settlements he may be taking cover in. You may also receive specific location descriptions, such as a "mutant settlement," in which case you must use the directions given, your map, and your knowledge of Andromeda to find your way. It should be noted that Joe will never be outside of Andromeda, but that said, time is of the essence here. Joe is a busy, busy man, and he must remain on the move, so if you spend any more than 30 minutes hunting for him, you should return to the Commander and try again.

Once you find Joe Two-Fingers (who curiously seems to have all 10 anyway), he'll grill you a bit more about who you know and what you know. He'll immediately try to give you the brush off, so you need to get his attention. The only way is to mention the name of one of his agents: "But I was hoping to talk to you about a man called Otacustes." Now he'll pay attention, but he's also now suspicious, and he'll grill you on how you know Otacustes, first wondering where he is. Answer him with, "In Eastern Fouls Plains." Giving out perhaps more info than he should, Joe presses further about the whereabouts of Otacustes: is he in the Mercs good graces, and in their camp, or out of it? Answer him with, "Yeah, inside," at which point he will become concerned and ask you for help in reaching Otacustes. Once you answer him by saying, "Sure, I'll contact him," you'll receive the Sealed Letter and a grave warning to avoid Ian Warr. And with that, it's off to Eastern Fouls Plains, and the Mercenaries' Bunker.

Otacustes is not one for a show, seeing as he is busy infiltrating the Mercenaries organization, so he'll need some coaxing to appear. With your trusty several teams of allies by your side, commence killing off the Mercenaries' army of Primus, Secundus, Tertius, and Quartus foot-soldiers, and the Notum Profundis officers. After enough damage has been wrought, and enough fodder killed, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours or more, Otacustes will emerge from his control room. Apparently, however. Otacustes is so well undercover that he is really a very definite she, and SHE has managed to take control of some operations of the Mercenaries. However, this trust is suddenly shattered when the security cameras of the compound catch you handing her the letter from Joe Two-Fingers, and an enraged Ian Warr will emerge with his loyal commanders in tow. The five of them will emerge in an area, ready to take on all comers and show the world how mighty they are.

Here's the problem though: they ARE mighty by themselves, and in a group of five they're unstoppable. There is no way any number of teams could keep up with Ian, Peter, Ris, Patricia, and Nelly all hammering on them at once, especially with more foot-soldiers and Profundi running about taking potshots too. Instead, it is imperative that players get ready to move away. The best way to proceed now is to send in the strongest, fastest, and ablest tank (probably an Enforcer) into the ring to catch the attention of ONE of the five, thus being aggroed by him (or her), and then for said tank, in all his glory, to high-tail it the hell out of there. There's no shame in survival here folks, so while your Enforcer is running out of the camp, with his selected Mercenary in tow, every healer in the vicinity should be healing, and everyone else should be following out the gate, if not already lying in wait at the pull point over the bridge.

Once a sufficient distance from the foot-soldiers, the Profundi, and the other four, proceed to hammer away steadily until the Mercenary falls, or he teleports out of danger and back into his bunker, whichever comes first. Fortunately, they don't teleport out for about two hours, so I wouldn't worry about that too much, especially since many raids now routinely defeat all five mercenaries. It is, however, imperative that the main kill team be kept alive, as if they all fall, the mercenary will run amok making an attempt to (and frequently succeeding at) killing all the raid members in the vicinity.

In the end, it is really a lot of work and effort, all for what usually becomes a lot of junk of the soldiers and Profundi, and some very nice, but very limited in number, rewards off the Mercenaries. Indeed, assuming you get very lucky, it would take at least seven kills (2 pieces from Ian, 1 piece and 1 Notum Tank Armor from Peter, 1 piece thereafter from any of the five Mercenaries) to complete a set of Azure Reveries with a Notum Tank Armor. However, doing this is definitely worth it because of this and some of the very valuable drops like the Reign of Patricia and Nelly Johnson's Little Black Dress.